Goggling Over Google Wave

I've admitted already that I love what Google are doing to bring us new tools for research. I posted recently about new ways of using Google, in particular the Wonder Wheel.

Last night, I sat with my jaw dropped and my eyes goggling over a video about Google's new Wave. Wow! The Googlies are bringing so much more excitement and razzamatazz into our lives.

Email with IM capabilities, instantaneous everything, amazing opportunities for collaboration, visual pizzazz... the only thing I'm sure of is I didn't understand a tenth of it, but I know we're seeing something that will revolutionize the way we use the internet.

So what is a Wave anyway? According to Google:

"A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time."

Like I said, razzamatazz, pizzazz, and real-time zapability - exciting stuff.

Some Google Alternatives

Wolfram Alpha is apparently a great new search engine going public soon - my suspicion is it will be great for those who are mathematically inclined ie not me.

Spezify interests me though. It brings images, twitter conversations and more to your results page. My instant impression is that it's easier to see at a glance and hone in on the result you want, than a list of text hits. This is an excellent one for visual learners, but parents and classroom teachers would need to keep an eye on those twitter remarks.

Searchme is already a favourite. I just love the mac-like interface, but I find I "play" there more than I do serious research. You scroll through search result actual pages on a virtual carousel until you see one you want, and click on it to visit the web site.

Isn't it exciting to be alive right now with all these amazing tools at our fingertips!

Photo courtesy PhotoXpress.com

The Reader's Bill of Rights

I am guided by Daniel Pennac's Readers Bill of Rights, and I want you to have that option, too.

We have:

1. The Right to Not Read
2. The Right to Skip Pages
3. The Right to Not Finish
4. The Right to Reread
5. The Right To Read Anything
6. The Right to Escapism
7. The Right to Read Anywhere
8. The Right to Browse
9. The Right to Read Out Loud
10. The Right to Not Defend Your Tastes

Aren't they great? Just going over this list brought half-remembered questions flooding back:

"Why don't you want to read it? I loved it!"
"Ew, how can you read that stuff?"
"You're reading it again? Didn't you get it all the first time?"

It also brought back memories:

• Being forced to read and analyse certain novels at school, that I hated.
• The delicious aroma of fresh coffee in a US bookstore where they actually encourage browsing with lots of comfy chairs!
• The discomfort of the hard branch in my girlhood backyard, when I finally pulled my attention away from my book, and remembered I was reading it in a tree.
• Slowly becoming aware of sidelong glances and amused looks when I sat on the floor in an Australian book shop, and did a thorough but uncomfortable browse.
• The slack-jawed, blank-eyed stare of a young listener who was totally engrossed in a book I read aloud.
• The comfort that a great book brought, even when I was sick in bed with flu, and sure I was about to die.
• The pleasure of re-reading a book for the tenth time - knowing what the character will say next, but still laughing.

 What about you? Did the Reader's Bill of Rights strike a chord? Do you have a memory prompted by your rights as a reader?

Photo courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Review, Emily's Sheepdog

Emergent readers need support. It's important to offer them books that catch their interest, but don't daunt them. Lots of white space on a page, pictures that aid understanding, simple sentence structure and restricted vocabulary all help young readers to gain confidence in reading alone. Whether they're called easy readers, junior novels or early chapter books, the fact is they are hard to write. Written well, they're just great to keep emergent readers eager to continue along the joyous pathway to reading. (Read my review of one such book, Elephant Mountain, by Janeen Brian.)

The Aussie Aussie Aussie series have a winner with Emily's Sheepdog (UC Publishing/ Blake Education). Written by Tracey Slater, and illustrated by Phong Lam, it's about young Emily, who wants a dog of her own to play with. A poodle is her preference. But Dad says a farm only has room for working dogs. So Emily sets about creating a poodle with the help of a lamb called Poddy.

Books don't have to be scary to have conflict and tension. Anyone who has ever longed for a pet will understand Emily's dream, and her determination to have the poodle of her dreams. As readers, we empathize, thrill to her plan and worry when she lies to the dog show judge. Can Emily's dream of having her very own sheep dog possibly work out?

Tracy Slater uses simple but effective words to describe Emily's adventures, and Phong Lam's black and white cartoon-style art work adds even more humour to this fun story. It would appeal to children aged from seven to ten years. Although Emily's Sheepdog is set in Australia, I think boys or girls, in any rural or urban setting will understand and relate to both Emily's dream, and her creative ideas.

What's the Deal with Online Publishing?

Several of my posts recently have been about sites that offer opportunities for families to collaboratively publish stories, and read other peoples' stories online. So far, I've talked about Glogster, Notaland, MakeBeliefsComix, PhotoPeach, and Myths and Legends. These web spaces provide a platform for people young and old, those with a mastery of English and those who are aiming for it. They allow us to manipulate text, images and sound to create stories. Why do those sites excite me so much?

For a start, they're fun and engaging for kids. They can learn new skills that will help them negotiate their way around the web. The sites encourage them to develop text to put with other types of communication - and that means reading and writing, two of my favourite pursuits! I don't think anyone would argue that a child's ability to read and write is closely linked to his successful education.

It's important to seek out authentic audiences for our communications. Yet it can be difficult to find avenues for story-making, especially in the case of those who are learning English as a second language, or who are just beginning to master communication skills because of age or disability. Are you old enough to remember the days when we kids would "do a composition" in our books? Input was probably "Write a story about a day at the beach." Nowadays kids are being taught the skills real writers use, including to think about audience when they communicate. How much more motivating it is to compose text for a slideshow you can send to your best friend at school, so she can see your holiday photos and read about what you did. 

I'm also excited because these sites allow us to engage with text. We don't want our kids to be passive readers, or passive watchers. When we're engaged with text, we're thinking and feeling, reacting and making judgments. Many of the sites allow us to combine visual texts like images or maps with caption text and music. Others, like the Center for Digital Storytelling, serve as a collection point for stories in video formats. M.S.K Running is an example of one from the Center that touched my heart. 

Perhaps most importantly, online publishing sites like these give a voice to young people and allow them to reach out to a global audience. By sharing their stories, they enable us to gain a greater understanding of some of the problems facing kids today. By sharing their stories, I believe young people contribute to making our world a better place, and help to shape their own futures.  

That's the deal with online publishing! 

Photo courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Coming Soon, Literacy Lava

Regular readers of The Book Chook blog may have noticed that I get excited about books and ideas that support kid's literacy. Well, I'M EXCITED! Some like-minded bloggers and I got together and created our own blog log. It's called Literacy Lava, and it's a digital magazine (in pdf format) that you'll be able to download and use, share with others, or print and keep.

The contributors are bloggers and parents who are passionate about children's literacy. This first issue is erupting with great tips for parents and suggestions for literacy activities to share with kids.

If you enjoy discovering new ways to incorporate reading, writing and creating into everyday life...

If you think you'd like a little lava to read with your java...

If the price tag FREE appeals to you...

You'll want to catch the first issue of Literacy Lava, coming soon!

Ban Read-Alouds? Ban the Bureaucrat!

My first memory of being read to, was listening to our Headmistress read Pilgrim's Progress to us. I associate it with the smell of the dusty green mats we sat on, the sound of a blowfly droning in summer heat, and my memory that it was something about a lamp. I was six at the time.

Later, reading aloud became vital to me. As a young teacher, I discovered even the most active kids would sit still if I found a book to engage them. I realized that if I really entered into the story, made the reading as dramatic and interesting as I could, the kids begged for more. And I began to notice their increasing motivation to read for themselves. I was hooked! I embarked on a life-long love affair with children's literature and literacy, through reading aloud.

So it absolutely appalls me to read stories like this one thrown up by Google today from the Orange County Register. A teacher in the USA has been told by the principal not to read to her second grade class because "... there isn't enough time in the day for them to read a story to their class for enjoyment." In many western countries, apparently, there is such emphasis on testing, teachers are being told not to read aloud to kids. Yet reading aloud is the very best way I know to sell kids on reading, no matter what age they are. Do we want our students motivated to read? Do we want them to love literature and turn to reading for the answers in their lives? Do we want to share the the sheer joy and magic of reading?

If not, let's replace read-alouds with tests. I'm sure that will make some grey little bureaucrat happy.

Review, Myths and Legends Website

Here's a great site where kids can find out about myths, legends and folk tales. Myths and Legends is one of the East of England Broadband Network sites. You can read all sorts of stories there, including many written and created by children.  

And that's the exciting part for me - Myths and Legends encourages kids from all over the world to publish their own tales. You can choose the site's own clip art and backgrounds for each page, and use them to help create your story. A great feature is being able to add sounds like axes thudding and bells ringing, or record your own sound effects and add them.

Once you start the story creator, it brings up a dashboard where you can choose your background for the first scene. Clicking the eyeball under the top sidebar frame shows you options, and clicking on your choice pastes it onto your first page. Text goes in the space under the background. Characters, props and speech bubbles are all available in the sidebar, and there's a tool to make items smaller, flip, delete etc. The visual side was easy but I took a while to work out the sound effects. As usual though, any six- or seven-year-old would have no trouble at all!

Kids can listen to stories being read aloud, while they follow on the screen, as with this story about the origins of Humpty Dumpty. There's also a page of teacher resources, including hints about making storyboards and using Movie Maker 2. It's well worth exploring the site; it truly is a great literacy resource for kids.

I made my own story. It's called Jack and Slicer Go For a Walk. (Yes, okay, my axe took on a personality of its own!) You can find it on the Myths and Legends page of saved and published stories. Be sure to roll your mouse over the art work to hear my fabulous sound effects. Next time, I'll make one with full audio track. Once a story is created, if you want to save it, you are prompted to register. I didn't have a school, so I chose "other" as my option.

If you have a youngster who, like me, might be interested in creating his own story about croaking ravens, baying hounds, beasts, blood puddles and ghastly screams, or even one who isn't into gore, check out Myths and Legends. 

Review, Pobblebonks

Pobblebonk, pobblebonk, pobblebonk! Isn't that a great word? But what IS a pobblebonk?

Short answer: it's a frog.

Slightly longer answer: it's a Western Banjo Frog, also known as Lymnodynastes dorsalis, and it's found in the south-western corner of Western Australia. The male frog's call is like the plucking of a banjo string. When a group of males sing together, the chorus sounds like: pobblebonk.

And Pobblebonks is the title of Garry Fleming's picture book (Hodder Headline Australia, 1998).

"At the end of my street where the tall reeds grow, live the pobblebonks.
What are they? Do you know?"

There's a mysterious feel to the accompanying double page illustration. Just right for the beginning of what is essentially a rhyming puzzle for the young reader to solve. The narrator proceeds to explain about pobblebonks obliquely - by telling us (and picturing) features they don't have, what they don't eat etc. More clues are added until at last we discover a pobblebonk lives in a jar beside his bed. The end papers tell us some facts about the frog.

From what I can discover, Pobblebonks is no longer being published. It's definitely worth keeping an eye open for in secondhand stores or online (Amazon UK has one for 22 pounds!) Pobblebonks is a great book for young animal lovers, and would make a wonderful resource for students involved in environmental studies. I enjoyed it mostly as a puzzle book, because the illustrations are a collage of animal snippets, and it was fun to try to identify each creature.

Book Chook Tip: Puzzle books might be a way to get your reluctant reader interested in widening his range of reading. You could start with all visual puzzles like Where's Wally. Then introduce books with just a little text, like some of the I Spy books. Add more text gradually. Is this sneaky? Yes! Does it work? Absolutely!

Find more great non-fiction books at the ACPL Mock Sibert blog. 

What Has Google Done Now?

Searching for information is a topic I touched on last week, with my post about skimming and scanning. Finding the exact information we want can be difficult and time-consuming, and especially so for kids. Search engines are a great way to find stuff on the net, but sometimes a search can bring too much information.

The good people from Google have come to the rescue. You can avoid ploughing through so many links by using some of Google's new tools.

First of all, do a search with Google. I put "frogs" into the search box and hit return. The following Google page brought me images and links, a jumble of information. But in the top left corner, there is now a hyperlink "Show options" under Google. When I clicked that, it added a sidebar to my results, offering some tools that helped me narrow my search. I can click video, forums or reviews and immediately locate only those hits for my search topic. The sidebar offers extra options to narrow my results even further eg I can specify 0-4 minute videos in the last 24 hours. "Related searches" gives me some extra search terms to try.

The one I think has the most potential for kids' learning is Wonder Wheel, a little further down in the left sidebar. This tool creates a word web or tag cloud about the search topic. With "frogs", it offered "frog food", "frogs life cycle", "tadpoles" etc, all linked and radiating out from the central "frogs". When I clicked on "tadpoles", it made another new word web, offering me "tadpoles life cycle" and "toad tadpoles" for instance. You can keep refining your search by clicking, until you find what you want.

Kids often have trouble developing their ideas about a research topic. Sometimes just generating keywords is difficult. Wonder Wheel suggests more specific concepts, and helps them narrow their focus.

If Google is indeed taking over the world, then I'm along for the ride. I just love Google and all the answers it brings me. Now those clever Googlies have brought new gifts - a boon for researchers young and old.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59509907@N00/197704394/

Review, How to Heal a Broken Wing

The first page of my new favourite picture book shows enormous city buildings that dwarf scurrying ant-like people. How much smaller and insignificant then is the pigeon that thuds against the glass wall of one building, and falls to the street below? Is it any wonder the grey and unremarkable city folk ignore it? Until Will comes along in his bright red jacket and sees a bird with a broken wing, and the feather lying next to it.

How to Heal a Broken Wing (Walker Books 2008) was written and illustrated by Australian author, Bob Graham. It is truly a special picture book, and one that will appeal to all ages. Graham's illustrations are superb. I can practically hear Mum's consternation : what am I supposed to do with an injured bird? But she wraps the pigeon in her scarf and they take it home in her handbag. I'll just bet there are other mums like me who have capacious bags so handy in emergencies, nodding ruefully over this page. Mum and Dad help Will look after the injured bird.

The story is told with no unnecessary words or details. It's spare, but perfect. Graham allows the pictures to do most of the talking. Some pages have multiple panels, others have a double spread, but all use colour and style and detail to contribute to the story. Just when I think Graham's beautiful watercolour images are the most outstanding feature of the book, his words win me over.

We live quite close to a national park, and often rescue birds that have crashed into a window when the sun is at the wrong angle. I've been told, "Let nature take its course." and "What possible difference can one bird make?" My answer always echoes the starfish story - "It makes a difference to this one." I believe we should encourage our kids to be compassionate, and give free rein to our own compassion, despite its inconveniences. Reaching out to others, especially those smaller and weaker, makes a brave splash of red in a sometimes grey universe.

How to Heal a Broken Wing is obviously destined for school and local libraries. It will make a tremendous resource for environmental themes, personal development lessons, or a study of visual text. The book has already been short-listed for a 2009 Early Childhood CBCA award. My prediction is it will win. It's already won a slew of other awards, like a Cybils and a Charlotte Zolotow award. But don't get this finely-crafted picture book because it's won awards. Buy it and share it with your child because it is a beautiful story about healing, and a beacon of hope in our tumultuous world.

Book Chook Alert: This review is my entry into the May 2009 Carnival of Children's Literature. You can see many wonderful entries at Tarie's blog, Into the Wardrobe.

The Ruthless Arts of Skimming and Scanning

All over the world, people are making predictions about the future of reading. There is debate about print versus digital formats, gloom about the future of publishing companies and print newspapers, and angst expressed by almost every stakeholder.

But one thing there is general consensus over is the explosion of information available to us, both now and in the future. Never before have we been so inundated with print, in whatever form it takes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of reading I need to do each day, particularly online. My personality is such that, when walking a trail, I have difficulty turning around and returning home, preferring to have "just a little peek around the next corner." My teachers called this "an immense curiosity and desire for learning". My son tells me I'm a stickybeak.

That curiosity makes it very difficult for me to ignore written words. Deleting an email without reading it is almost impossible, even when it's an automated one. So I am making a May resolution - more ruthlessness when skimming and scanning.

They are important skills to have, so naturally, they're important skills to help kids develop. There are many online resources about them, and no doubt they are part of every school's curriculum, particularly in library or information technology lessons. Here's my understanding of them. Scanning is when you quickly check a page or pages out, searching for key words or snippets of information. Skimming really just means reading fast, rather than word by word, to get the main idea. The key to both is being ruthless in repressing my desire to read carefully.

I thought it might be useful to look at the methods I use for scanning and skimming, not because they're the best, but because they mostly work for me.

• When I get to a page or a screen, I check out the big picture first. I let my eyes track left to right and top to bottom, quickly taking in stand-out features like the presence of a sidebar, table, picture, or bullet points in a list. That's scanning.
• Next I narrow my focus a little and read the headings, or subtitles, and any words in special font like bold. I don't really think too much, just get a taste for what's going on. I'm still scanning.
• After that, if I'm convinced I am in the right place, I skim the first couple of paragraphs of the bulk of the information. My eyes flick along, trying to work out the main idea of the text. I look for keywords or phrases, and if I find them, quickly read word for word nearby and try to make sense of them.
• Finally, I determine exactly what I want to read and concentrate on extracting meaning from the text. What actually happens is I scan and skim, skim and scan, and read, over and over again, rather than it being a linear process the way I've described it above.

You know, sometimes when a child IS a voracious reader, it can be a handicap for her. She loves the written word and is keen to read every single one. Some kids become so absorbed in a book, they ignore everything else around them, even to the point of skipping meals. (Alas, that part never happened to me.) Scanning and skimming, particularly an informational text, are skills that can help her find the place where she needs to start reading - and practice might help her develop the self discipline she needs to stop!

If like me, you simply must read the Vitabrits box or the Vegemite jar because they're there, why not join me in some more skimming and scanning ruthlessness? I plan to prop my book against them and ignore them altogether!

My Hero

We all need heroes. With children nowadays increasingly concerned over issues in our society and the environment such as war, terrorism and pollution, they need heroes more than ever. Heroes make us feel better about our lives. They give us someone to admire, and someone to pattern ourselves after.

Some people worry about kids learning to be violent and aggressive through emulating their heroes. Others say it can blur the divide between fantasy and reality. All I have is my own anecdotal evidence. When we were growing up, we played Robin Hood for years, taking particular delight in shooting anything that moved with our bows and arrows, and conducting extremely noisy sword fights. I remember smuggling tomato sauce out of the house, so we could have "real" blood for a be-heading. As far as I know, all of my old playmates are model citizens. (The jury's still out where I'm concerned.)

Teens often make heroes of sports and entertainment figures, but younger kids will make heroes of their parents, or a book or TV character that's caught their fancy. Kids change their heroes as they mature, but they also see themselves as heroes, especially in day dreams. Youngsters love to dress up as a favourite hero, and act out all sorts of fantasies in their games.

Literature is a great way to bring kids to an awareness of truly heroic lives. Not every hero has a cape and underwear outside his clothes. By studying biographies about Ghandi or Nelson Mandela, kids can come to realize that there are many heroes in every day life who portray such characteristics as courage in the face of adversity, or perseverance, or a desire to right injustices in the world. There are picture books about animal heroes Like Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli, or Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. Fiction too, has wonderful heroes - read my recent review of a Sandy Fussell Samurai Kids book to find a story where heroic qualities like self-discipline and putting others first are found in child heroes.

Getting kids to create stories about a hero is a wonderful writing activity. To start them off, try The Hero Factory. Here they can design themselves a hero, choosing physical features, costume, accessories and more. When done, they can print or download their hero in a comic book cover format like mine above. If they need some questions to prompt their story, ask them:

• What is your hero's name?
  
• What special powers does he/she have?
  
• Does your hero have any weaknesses?
  
• What might be a problem for your hero?
  

You can offer to interview your child while he adopts the role of his hero. This helps him to discover more fascinating facts that could be woven into something as complex as a narrative, or as simple as a Wanted poster.

Do you like my hero picture? It's not every day a Book Chook gets to make herself over! I tried to choose features that echoed my real-life attributes: young, attractive, slender, fit, orange mohawk ... If you too would like a makeover, if you've always dreamed of having super powers, or if your child would like to create her own superhero, check out The Hero Factory.

Book Chook Alert: Read two great posts on books about heroes at Moms Inspire Learning:

Wangari and Sequoyah.

The Book Chook Plays with Publishing

I love sites that encourage kids to write, and to be creative with images and text. Notaland is another one of my recent website discoveries that are intrinsically motivating to kids - and to Book Chooks! It's a sister site to PhotoPeach, which I used to make slideshows to tell two simple stories.

Nota is a little like Glogster, but even simpler. After registering, you are presented with clear choices - a posting screen, and two sidebars with tools. You can upload pictures from your computer, add text, add clipart from the site, fonts, search for pictures, add movies etc. I kept mine simple, but I think the site has lots of potential.

Educational applications using Nota, include presentations and reports. Students are able to insert google maps and wikipedia articles, or upload pdfs, Word files and sounds. They can also collaborate over a Nota, and add comments to it. There are many opportunities for storing and sharing work. As usual with any website, I would advise parental supervision. 

Do take a look at Nota, and more importantly, introduce it to your kids. It might even make a great alternative to finding a sheet of cardboard for those Sunday night "gotta do a project" announcements. Better still,  play there yourself, and tell anyone who asks that the Book Chook calls it research!

Review, Pearl Verses the World

Recently on the Book Chook blog, I mentioned tribes, and how important stories are to them. We all belong to different tribes, or groups, and that very belonging is crucial to our sense of self-worth.

In Sally Murphy's latest book, Pearl Verses the World (Walker Books Australia, 2009), Pearl feels as though she is in a group of one at school. She doesn't belong to the football group or the library kids' group. She can't write the sort of rhyming poetry her teacher wants. She feels as if she is fading into invisibility. At home, her tribe consists of Granny, who lies in bed and drools, and Mum, who can't cope. Yet the constant in Pearl's life is that she belongs to her family of three.

When Granny dies, Pearl is devastated. Granny was the one who taught her that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, and Pearl slowly finds the strength to write a poem that says what is in her heart, a poem that says goodbye to her beloved Granny:
"... She wasn't here
For long enough
But I am glad
That she
Was here
At all."

Pearl Verses the World grabs at your heart from the moment you see the front cover, and notice skinny, knobbly-kneed Pearl with her fine hair escaping from its plaits. Heather Potter's art work really does add another dimension to this book - the line drawings are realistic, but at times whimsical, like when Pearl is desperately trying to rhyme with "-at" words, and Potter depicts her as the Cat in the Hat! The many illustrations make this a great novel for kids who are intimidated by lots of text, as does the free-verse format Sally Murphy has chosen.

Not every child likes to read what I think of as "exploding underpants" books. Not every child is a popular extrovert. Pearl Verses the World is a gentle story about a gentle child. Sally Murphy allows Pearl to speak to us about her life, almost as a stream of consciousness, so that we feel we are sharing her thoughts. We understand Pearl's fear and confusion, and rejoice when Pearl realizes that she is no longer a group of one. Murphy's creative use of language weaves yet another layer into this heart-warming book.

I believe it's important to offer books to children that allow them to consider the big issues in life. Death and dying, feelings of abandonment and lack of power are all issues kids must eventually face. Books like this are empowering, they help a child know she is not alone, and that there are ways of coping, and being strong. Pearl Verses the World would make a great acquisition for libraries, and be an excellent choice for study in the primary school. It is a novel that offers a voice to every child who needs one.

Book Review: Maybelle, Bunny of the North

Some books don't conform. The ever-changing Rules of Writing dictate that children's books should have a problem or conflict, solved by the protagonist. We're told that publishers frown on anthropomorphism, and rabbits don't wear clothes. Maybelle, Bunny of the North is more a slice of life story than one that centres around a conflict, and Maybelle herself wears several cute outfits dictated by the seasons.

Unfashionable though I'm told it is, I confess to a soft spot for stories about animals. One of my earliest childhood memories is also a story about a rabbit - Pookie Puts the World Right, by Ivy Wallace, had a winged rabbit in baggy blue pants. In Maybelle, Bunny of the North, the action takes place in Homer, Alaska. As the seasons change, so do Maybelle's activities. Whether building snowmen, playing on the slide, or looking for moose in the fireweed, Maybelle is a friendly bunny who always has time to say hiya to her fellow Alaskans.

The illustrations are what grabbed me in this picture book. Author/illustrator Keith Patterson has used watercolour and ink in a naive style to produce totally charming vignettes of Maybelle's life. The visual text adds much to the story, so that kids will notice similarities and differences between their own lives and Maybelle's. New publisher, Bee's Knees Books have done a great job with the publishing/printing - the book is hard back, with quality paper and a nice solid feel.

The visual appeal and gentle story makes Maybelle, Bunny of the North a nice bedtime book. I think it would also make a good resource for younger grades when teaching themes like seasons, global connections, and how climate affects lifestyle. A good follow-up activity after reading and discussing the story, would be to use the book as a model for children's own journals, encouraging them to write about how their activities change with the seasons.

The Book Chook Makes a Slideshow

You may have noticed recently that I am totally fascinated by the potential the web has for both encouraging kids to create and play with language, and to publish their own writing. I also love the online opportunities parents have for developing stories and books about their kids. These are a wonderful memento of special family days, and make a lovely way to show the link between reading and writing to young children. Recently, I've told you about Glogster, the web spot to poster yourself, and MakeBeliefComix, where kids can create their own comic. Over the next weeks, I plan to bring you many more opportunities for creative literacy.

PhotoPeach is my latest cool place to tell stories online. PhotoPeach makes it easy to register, then you start creating. Upload the pictures you want to use, play with the order until you're happy, choose some music, add captions and you're done. It's easy to make changes with the Edit options, and you can embed the finished product on your site, upload to facebook, email, or delete it. 

First of all, I found some photos I'd taken a few years ago of my pet fairies, Jack, Daisy and Roger. I uploaded them with a couple of clicks and a wait of about 20 seconds - this site is slick! Then I listened to some of the music on offer, and chose a tune I liked. You can upload from YouTube too. I played around with the order of my slide show, until I had a story in my head that could link the individual pictures. Then I made captions for each photo, and created my "story". Great literature it isn't, but that's not the point of the exercise. PhotoPeach is certainly easy enough for primary school kids to use, and offers a great chance for parents to collaborate with the under sevens. Take a look at my story, Jack looks for his Friends, below.

Next I made a little slideshow called Danai's Busy Day, using photos, text and music to tell a story about my young friend, Danai. Basically, I chose some recent pictures his proud grandmother had sent me, decided on a very loose plot - basically a caption comment on each one - and chose the William Tell Overture as a bouncy, active theme tune. All I had to do then was add a couple more pictures to make the "story" fit the tune better, write my captions and my work was done.

Stories are important to us all, especially to our "tribes", whatever they may be. PhotoPeach makes it easy to create, transmit, and keep our stories in a digital format. Such a cool concept, and such a creative way to spend time online! I can see youngsters who are just beginning to read wanting to create their own stories here, and I think it would be a wonderful place for older kids to publish their poetry, or a commentary on something important to them. 

Jack Looks for his Friends on PhotoPeach

Danai's Busy Day on PhotoPeach